Location: Near Saku
["Estonian Atlas," Institute of Baltic Studies Web Site, http://atlas.ibs.ee/.] {Updated by IPZ on 10/24/00}
Activities:
During the Soviet era, Saku received solid and liquid radioactive waste from Paldiski. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, lax security has made Saku a prime target for metals theft. From 1991 to 1994, security was reduced to one overnight guard for the 72 hectare facility, lighting on the perimeter was poor, parts of the single fence had fallen, and the alarm system for the storage vaults was broken. Out of concern over security problems at Saku and Paldiski, Sweden and Finland allocated $3.1 million and $14.1 million, respectively, to clean up both facilities. In addition to these efforts, Estonia tightened security around Saku and considered moving the nuclear waste from the site and closing the facility in the near future.[1] According to an IAEA publication, the repository was shut down in 1996.[2]
Sources:
[1] "Estonia Nuclear Waste," Trade and Environment Database Web Site, http://www.american.edu/.../TED/ESTONIA.htm.
[2] Kyong Won Han, Jorma Heinonen, and Arnold Bonne, "Radioactive waste disposal:
Global experience and challenges," IAEA Bulletin, https://161.5.1.75/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull391/bonne.html.
Comments:
Built at the beginning of the 1960s, the Saku dump consists of 16 in-ground concrete-lined vaults for the disposal of solid nuclear waste and one cylindrical tank for radioactive liquids.
[Jorma Rotko, "Storage of Radioactive Waste in Estonia in Bad Shape," Helsingin Sanomat, 11/24/94, p. C3; in "Details on Nuclear Waste Death Incident," JPRS-TEN-95-003, 2/24/95, p.55.]
Location: 20km outside of Tallinn
Activities:
Tammiku is one of two Estonian facilities for storing low- and intermediate-level waste (the other is Paldiski). It has served as a central treatment and storage facility for radioactive waste in Estonia and was designed in accordance with criteria developed in Moscow in the late 1950s.[1] According to an IAEA publication, the repository was shut down in 1996.[2]
Sources:
[1] "Natural Resource Aspects of Sustainable Development in Estonia. Radioactive Waste," United Nations - Economic and Social Development Web Site, http://www.un.org/esa/.../estonia/natur.htm.
[2]Kyong Won Han, Jorma Heinonen, and Arnold Bonne, "Radioactive waste disposal:
Global experience and challenges," IAEA Bulletin, https://161.5.1.75/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull391/bonne.html.
1999: ENVIRONMENTAL MINISTRY: NO HIGH-LEVEL RADWASTE IN COUNTRY
A document published on the Estonian Ministry of the Environment's web site states that there is no highly radioactive waste in Estonia.
["Nuclear safety and radiation protection," Estonian Ministry of Environment Web Site, http://www.envir.ee/eng/...copy(10).html.] {Entered 2/12/01 LBN}
September 1997: ESTONIAN FIRM WILL CLOSE SAKU WASTE SITE
The state company Alara intends to close the Saku radioactive waste site by the end of 1997. The final decision to close the site must be made by the Estonian Ministry of the Environment and local authorities. Alara Deputy Director Henno Putnik stated that liquid waste will be removed from the dump, while some of the solid waste, which may either present a risk if reburied or require a further "profitability study," will remain at the site. The storage containers holding medical and industrial waste will be sealed with concrete covers and buried. Saku has been under constant armed supervision since thieves broke into the dump in 1994.
["Radioactive Waste Dump Near Estonian Capital To Be Closed," Baltic News Service, 2 September 1997.] {entered 9/15/97 djw}
February 1997: ESTONIA DOES NOT HAVE FUNDS TO CLEAN UP FACILITIES
The Estonian government does not have the necessary funds, an estimated $125 million, to cover the costs of cleaning up several facilities for the storage and disposal of radioactive waste and spent fuel. Of that amount, $100 million is necessary to decommission nuclear submarines and construct a spent fuel repository at the Paldiski naval base, which was transferred from Russian to Estonian control in September 95 (see also the entry on the Paldiski training reactor). The remainder is needed for cleaning up uranium processing residues and uranium mill tailings from the Sillamae Metal and Chemical Production plant. The Estonian government is currently developing a comprehensive nuclear waste and spent fuel management program which will shut down a low-level waste facility near Tallinn. Waste from that facility will then be shipped to the Paldiski site. Estonia has requested that the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Company (SKB) evaluate three potential sites for low- and medium-level waste disposal.
["Estonia," NUKEM, 2/97, pp. 17-18.] {updated 4/9/97 djw}
1995: NORWAY IS DUE TO PROVIDE $20 MILLION ASSISTANCE TO RUSSIA, ESTONIA, LITHUANIA, AND UKRAINE
Norway is expected to provide $20 million in assistance to Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Ukraine during 1995. The assistance will be focused primarily on radiation protection and radioactive waste management, and will also address the issue of environmental health.
["Nuclear Safety," GAO/RCED-96-4, p. 29.]
1995: SWEDEN FOCUSES ASSISTANCE ON THE THREE BALTIC COUNTRIES, BELARUS, AND RUSSIA
Swedish assistance in radiation protection and waste management has focused on the three Baltic countries, Belarus, and Russia. Sweden has already spent $10 million on various projects.
["Nuclear Safety," GAO/RCED-96-4, p. 29.]
25 January 1995: PLAN TO MOVE THE RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITY ARE ANNOUNCED
Juri Tikk announced an Estonian government plan to move the radioactive waste facility near Saku, which has been criticized for having inadequate security, to the Paldiski nuclear facility where nuclear waste is already being stored. Under the plan, a separate body established by the Estonian Economics Ministry would run the Paldiski and Saku facilities. The Estonian Economics Ministry has until 15 February 1995 to submit a plan for establishing this body. Arvo Niitenberg, the Estonian Minister of Energy, said that a special company should be established to run the Paldiski facility. Niitenberg said that the company could handle economic and technical matters while the Estonian Environmental Ministry could carry out environmental inspections.
[BNS (Tallinn), 1/25/95; in "Plans To Dump Radioactive Waste At Paldiski Revealed," FBIS-SOV-95-017, 1/25/95.]
January 1995: SECOND BOX CONTAINING CESIUM-137 IS FOUND
A second metal box containing cesium-137, similar to the one that killed a man in November 1994, was found near a highway between Tallinn and Narva. It was reported that the box is probably a piece of the internal wall of a sterilization chamber from a Soviet-era plant.
[Enn Kivisakk, "Radioactive Sources Adrift," SSI NEWS, 8/95, pp. 30-31.]
29 November 1994: STOLEN CESIUM-137 FOUND NEAR SAKU
In the village of Kiisa near the Saku storage site, a local man died and several others fell ill due to exposure to a small amount of cesium-137 in a metal box which he had stolen from the dump. The storage facilities, although poorly funded, will be used through 2010. The metal box was originally found in a scrap metal yard in Tallinn in the spring of 1994. It was then transferred to the Tammiku repository for radioactive waste, about 20 kilometers outside of Tallinn.
Sources:
[1] Jorma Rotko, "Storage of Radioactive Waste in Estonia in Bad Shape," Helsingin Sanomat, 11/24/94, p. C3; in "Details on Nuclear Waste Death Incident," JPRS-TEN-95-003, 2/24/95, p.55.;
[2] Enn Kivisakk, "Radioactive Sources Adrift," SSI NEWS, 8/95, pp. 30-31.
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